Corrections and Clarifications

National Geographic Magazine

February 2019Taking Stock of Animal Milk, page 22: After her baby, Moke, was born, Calaya allowed a small amount of her milk to be sampled, but then became sensitive to the process and stopped donating. Her milk is not part of the samples at the zoo's repository.

December 2018The Bible Hunters, page 47: The 1993 Oslo accords provided a framework for transferring disputed territories to Palestinian control; they were not returned to Palestinian control. Page 60: In the graphic for the New Testament, the reference for Jesus walking on water was incorrectly attributed to the Gospel of Luke. The correct attribution is the Gospel of Mark. Jesus feeding the multitude appears in all four Gospels.

October 2018Iran's Nomads, Fading Away, pages 94-95: The caption for the photo at top right incorrectly calls the firearm a rifle. It is a shotgun.

Your Shot, page 144: The photographer's name was given incorrectly. It should be Bui Quoc Ky.

August 2018Want to Fall Asleep? Read This Story, page 67: The article incorrectly describes narcoleptic attacks as "uncontrollable episodes of sudden sleep onset, [that] often are triggered by strongly positive emotions, such as listening to a joke, being tickled, or tasting delicious food." In fact, this describes a cataplexy attack, a symptom of type 1 narcolepsy, during which the person can appear to be asleep but is fully awake. Sleep attacks are an overwhelming sense of sleepiness that come on quickly, but aren't associated with emotions.

July 2018How to Save a Predator, page 34: The research processes of filming the sharks with the GoPro camera and hooking them to attach a satellite tag are separate events on different days.

How Latinos Are Shaping America's Future, page 93: The following statement is incorrect: "The mayor of Los Angeles and the leaders of both houses of the state legislature are of Latin American descent." Senator Toni Atkins became President pro Tempore of the California State Senate on March 21, 2018, succeeding Senator Kevin de León.

June 2018Your Shot, page 142: The surfboard in the photograph was incorrectly identified as a hot curl. It is actually a contemporary version of an alai‘a, a finless, round-nosed, square-tailed traditional surfboard used in pre-20th century Hawaii.

Plastic: Plastic Paradise, pages 70-71: The total number of pieces of plastic cataloged was incorrectly stated in the note as 53,000. The actual total is more than 60,000, which corresponds to the numbers shown in the accompanying graphic.Pollution on a Stick: Three of the labels and descriptions of the water used to create the pictured frozen blocks were placed incorrectly. The photo labeled The Ditch in Zhongli Night Market should be labeled Xindian Stream; Xindian Stream should be Port of Keelung; and Port of Keelung should be Ditch in Zhongli Night Market.

Plastic, page 51: In the chart titled "A Lifetime of Plastic," the "Building and construction" segment incorrectly includes 37 boxes to illustrate "the average time plastics are used before they’re discarded." The correct number of boxes is 35, which correctly corresponds to the label "35 years."

Plastic: Solutions, page 88: The jar in the caption was misidentified as a quart jar (32 ounces), when in fact it is a pint jar (16 ounces).

May 2018Picasso, page 118: Wang Zhongjun's name is incorrectly spelled in the text as Wong Zhongjun.

April 2018Contributors: The note for Michele Norris erroneously stated that she "started NPR's Race Card Project." The project created by former NPR host and correspondent Norris operates independently, but it produced radio segments in partnership with NPR’s Morning Edition.

March 2018Contents and page 71: The airtime for One Strange Rock has changed. It will now air on Mondays at 10/9c starting March 26.

Explore: Mushrooming Popularity: The correct scientific name for the poplar mushroom is Cyclocybe aegerita.

February 2018They Are Watching You. Page 56: In the chart labeled "Energy from nuclear fluorescence," the unit being measured was mislabeled "Electron volts." The correct unit is "Megaelectron volts."

Page 58: The company Planet was founded by three people. Co-founder Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA scientist along with co-founders Will Marshall and Robbie Schingler, was inadvertently omitted from our article.

Contents: The title of the National Geographic television show is now Lost Treasures of the Maya Snake Kings and will air on February 6 at 9/8c.

November 2017Why Vaccines Matter, pages 24-5: The infographic "Vaccine Victories" should have included the following in the sources credit: Modified from J. You/Science.

The World's Happiest Places, page 49: The amount of vacation in Denmark was mistakenly given as at least four weeks a year. The correct amount is at least five weeks of vacation a year.

The Mission to Save Africa's Okavango Delta, page 93: The boundary of Khaudum National Park was drawn incorrectly on the map in the print article. The correct park boundary is shown below.

October 2017Should We Kill Animals to Save Them?, page 87: The photo caption says that leopard hunting with dogs was banned in Namibia because leopard numbers were “falling dangerously.” In 2009 Namibia reexamined its predator trophy hunting regulations after the quota of leopard kills was reached just halfway into the year. This was due in part because more hunters were tracking leopards with dogs, which results in a much higher success rate. In order to protect leopard numbers and ensure fair and safe hunts, Namibia banned leopard hunting with dogs in 2010. The photo of the skinners was taken in 2011, but the leopard was shot in 2009.

Becoming Jane Goodall, page 37: The opening quote of the article in our print edition was reported incorrectly. What Jane Goodall actually told an audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in April 2015, based on a transcript, was: “For those of you who may hear a story twice, please forgive me. But sometimes special stories are nice to hear again ... If I’m sitting around a campfire listening, and I don’t hear my favorite story, I feel deprived. Please listen to some of these stories with that in mind.” A corrected opening to the story will be included when the digital version is posted.

September 2017A Tiny Country Feeds the World, pages 94-5: In the graphic “Punching Above Its Weight,” the Netherlands was incorrectly ranked number six among the top 25 producing countries by yield for potatoes and onions. The Netherlands is ranked number five among potato and onion producers.

The Addicted Brain, page 45: A chapter of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual was incorrectly identified as “Impulse Control Not Elsewhere Classified.” The correct chapter title is “Impulse Control Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified.”

August 2017Bolt From the Blue, page 122: In the story of mako sharks encountered by Zane Grey in 1926, the boat captain did not battle a 1,200-pound shark. That was done by Laurie Mitchell, one of Grey's companions. Mitchell was an officer in the British army and was therefore likely referred to as “Captain.”

Shoot for the Moon, page 44:In the “Privatizing the Race” gatefold, the label “Altitude-control thrusters” on the Moon Express/MX-1E lander is incorrect. The correct wording is “Attitude-control thrusters.”Attitude is the orientation of a craft in relation to a fixed reference.

June 2017Why We Lie, page 51:The contributor’s note states that Yudhijit Battacharjee wrote about baby brains in December 2015. His article, “The First Year,” was published in January 2015.

Turned to Stone, page 97: The link to the online story was printed incorrectly. To access the online interactive for Nodosaur, please click here.

March 2017Explore | Tools and Technology | Up and Over: The cargo graph is incorrectly labeled as cargo in metric tons; it should be labeled as cargo in thousand metric tons.

A Fight to Survive, page 96: The text incorrectly states that primatologist Antje Engelhardt's team rehabituated the Rambo I group to the wild. The wild macaques were rehabituated to human presence, which allowed the team to study the animals in the wild.

February 2017Explore | Food: United States of Corn. The “map” of the United States incorrectly has the upper part of Michigan attributed to Wisconsin. This image is an artistic representation of the U.S. that was created by Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin; it does not necessarily reflect actual state boundaries.

3 Questions | Sebastian Junger: The airdate for the documentary Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS changed after we went to press. It will now air on June 11 at 9/8c on National Geographic.

Saving the Seas:On the map page in the iPad edition, the graphic showing the number of square miles in areas administered by the National Park Service incorrectly lists the number 400,000 on the left side. That number should not be there and was not included in the print version. The online version of the map has been updated and can be found here.

A 9,000-Year Love Affair:Due to editing errors, the map and graphic titled “Alcohol Through the Ages,” on pages 48-9 in the print edition, contained incorrect information in some of the notes as well as an incomplete source credit. Cacao wine: This wine was made from the pulp of the cacao fruit and was served or drunk from a long-necked jar shaped like a cacao pod. A later beverage, which may or may not have been alcoholic, was derived from the cacao bean and was served with froth on top, produced by pouring it from a great height. Cassava beer: Ancient brewers made this beer by boiling the root, then chewing it prior to fermentation. Cassava is poisonous if not prepared correctly. Pepper berry wine: This was not a strong wine. Gruit Beer: Gruit beer refers specifically to the use of northern European herbs, such as bog myrtle and rosemary, as additives instead of hops. Source: The source credit should read: Patrick E. McGovern, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Much of the information for this map and graphic came from McGovern’s books Uncorking the Past and Ancient Brews (to be published in June).The same map and graphic, “Alcohol Through the Ages,” for the iPad and iPhone versions contained incomplete information. The fully updated version can be found here.

January 2017Redefining Gender:The definition of intersex has been revised to omit reference to "disorder of sexual development (DSD)." The updated definition can be found here.

November 2016From the Editor page:The photo caption misidentified Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko as Sergey Volkov. Kornienko was returning from 340 days on the International Space Station.

August 2016The Shipwreck Shark, page 121:The cost of dried lower caudal lobes of whitetip sharks in Hong Kong was stated incorrectly. The correct price is $265 per pound, not $1,300 per pound.

June 2016Sharks: Lords of the Sea: In the interactive iPad and iPhone versions, the conservation designation next to the angel shark is listed incorrectly as Insufficient Data. It should be listed as Critically Endangered.

Sharks: Lords of the Sea, poster:Information about eyelids for mackerel sharks and ground sharks was incorrect. Mackerel sharks do not have an inner eyelid, while ground sharks do have an inner eyelid.

Peru’s World Apart, page 56: The text says “He pulls out a few leaves of piri-piri and chews them.” In this instance he chewed the roots, not leaves.

Plundering the Past, page 75: The photo caption incorrectly states that the artifacts pictured were for sale in an antiquarian shop in northwest Syria. The artifacts were actually for sale at an antiquarian dealer's home.

Into the Backcountry, page 103: The photo caption incorrectly states that the men were traveling within Yellowstone National Park, where dogs and fires are not permitted in the backcountry. They were actually outside the park, in Bridger-Teton National Forest.

February 2016London Down Under: In the iPhone interactive editions, the scales in graphics depicting historical eras are incorrect. The lines for the scales “Ground level below present day” are not proportionate. For reference, people in the illustrations are depicted approximately 5.5 to 6 feet tall.

The Changing Face of Saudi Women: In the iPad interactive editions, the video “Educated and Underemployed” incorrectly states the age bracket at the top of the population pyramid as 45-49. The correct age bracket is 60-64.

January 2016Into Thin Ice, page 106: Two latitude lines on the map were mislabeled. The lines labeled 50°N and 60°N should be 60°N and 70°N, respectively.

December 2015The World’s Most Powerful Woman, pages 40-1: On the “Seeing Mary” map, Our Lady of Hope in Pontmain, France, was incorrectly labeled “Supernatural, Approved by local bishop.” It should be labeled “Supernatural, Recognized by Vatican after approval by local bishop.” Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador, was incorrectly labeled “Supernatural, Recognized by Vatican after approval by local bishop.” It should be labeled “Supernatural, Approved by local bishop.” Page 59: The description of pilgrims participating in the candlelight procession should say “... from Argentina to Zambia,” not Zaire.

November 2016Survival Guide 1, You, Tiny House Footprint, page 20: The area of the footprint for the house should be 96 square feet, not 89.

October 2015Explore: Planet Earth | Name, Name, Go Away, page 22: The World Meteorological Organization, which chooses the names given to hurricanes, has stopped using several names it identified as potentially controversial. In an article titled “Name, Name, Go Away” in our October issue, three of those names were listed without the following essential context:

The male name Adolph was dropped to prevent linking a storm with Adolf Hitler.

The female name Isis was originally included in reference to the Egyptian goddess but was dropped after the rise of the Islamic State.

The male name Israel was dropped to avoid associating a destructive weather event with the state of Israel.

Without context, the list in the article appeared to imply some connection or equivalence among the names. There is neither connection nor equivalence, and any such implication was wholly unintended. National Geographic’s editors regret that this unfortunate wording was not caught before print publication; it has been corrected in digital editions.

Mystery Man, page 38: Matthew Berger’s age was incorrectly given as 14. In 2008 he was nine years old. Page 56: Garrreth Bird’s name was misspelled in a photo credit.

September 2015Explore: Us | Dogged Pursuit, page 12:Watson the bloodhound helped the Hagerstown city police, not Maryland police, locate a missing student.

Explore: Nat Geo Wild | How a Jellyfish Re-arms, page 16: Salamanders were mistakenly described as invertebrates. They are, of course, vertebrates.

Tracking Ivory, From the Editor and page 37:More than 100,000 African elephants were slaughtered between 2010 and 2012, not 2009 to 2012.

Learn More About Oceans: The title of the television show airing on Nat Geo WILD changed after we went to print. The new title is Russia’s Wild Arctic.

August 2015Will the Pope Change the Vatican?, page 50: Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, an old friend of Pope Francis, is Italian, not Argentine.

Life After the Bombs, page 121: Motorized canoes were made from the discarded fuel pods of fighter-bombers, not B-52s.

July 2015Explore: Wild Things | Nesting Instincts, page 12: Nest number 7 is of a Baltimore oriole, not a Bullock’s oriole.

On a Roll, page 67: The photograph of Gerd Ludwig was taken by Axel Pries, not Douglas Kirkland.

Feeding Frenzy, page 86: The biologists who were starting orca safaris should have been identified as Swedish.

May 2015It’s Time For a Conversation, page 44: Juan Trancoso’s name was misspelled in the source credits.

April 2015How Coal Fuels India’s Insurgency, pages 94-5: The paste described in the photo caption as turmeric is actually vermilion paste.

Trajan’s Amazing Column, page 125: Many—not most—of the surviving Dacians had been sold as slaves. Page 129: Archaeologists did not use aerial imaging to identify more than 260 man-made terraces in Sarmizegetusa.

March 2015Explore: Food | By the Numbers, pages 18-19: A qualifying statement was omitted from the graphic at lower right: Only 7 percent of some 400 antibiotic drugs given to livestock have been reviewed for their superbug risk by the FDA.

January 2015Visions, pages 28-29: The red plant identified as duckweed is Azolla imbricata, more commonly known as mosquito fern.

December 2014Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., pages 104-05: The wall visible in the photographs is the holiest place where Jews can pray; some consider Judaism’s holiest site to be the Temple Mount, which was not pictured.

October 2014Explore: Us | School Slogans, page 16: The correct name of the school mentioned is East Carolina University.

The Next Green Revolution, page 45: The description of the isolation of the Sub1 gene in rice was incomplete. The gene was actually isolated by Kenong Xu, working in the laboratory of Pamela Ronald at the University of California, Davis. Page 47: The photo caption should have referred to Peru’s southern coastal desert, not the Atacama. That place name only applies to the desert in Chile. Page 53: The correct numbers for the Y axis of the global rice yields graph are: 0, 1, and 2. Page 70: The border label “U.S./Mexico” on the map was misplaced. It should have been moved a half inch to the left.

National Geographic History

January/February 2019Jesse James: Rise of an American Outlaw: The print version of the article incorrectly states that Charlie Ford shot Jesse James. His brother, Robert Ford, shot and killed Jesse James. The digital version of the story has been corrected.

November/December 2018Top Guns of World War I: The Birth of Combat Aviation: The caption on page 73 misidentifies a British fighter squadron as comprised of bombers; the text has been corrected in the digital edition. On page 77, the photograph was misidentified as a 1915 aerial battle between French and German aircraft, when it is a photograph of a 1930 re-creation of a World War I air battle; this photo has been removed from the digital version of the story and will not appear in future print editions. On page 81, the text misidentifies German Gotha planes as fighters, not bombers; the text has been corrected in the digital edition. On page 87, a caption misidentifies French Nieuport 28 biplanes as Sopwith Camels; it has been corrected in the digital version of the story.

July/August 2018Daily Life: Fast and Furious: The caption for a photo of the remains of the Hippodrome misidentifies Istanbul as the capital of Turkey. Ankara is the capital of Turkey. Future printings will be corrected.

May/June 2018Next Issue: Battle of the Sexes: The text for an upcoming article incorrectly characterizes Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, as sisters. The two women were cousins. Future printings will be corrected.

September/October 20171917: Russia's Year of Revolution: A map credit mistakenly omitted the name of one of the contributors. The correct credit is EOSGIS.COM / NG MAPS. The online version of the article has been corrected.

March/April 2016Joining the Fight: The United States Enters World War I: A map caption mistakenly states that when the United States entered the war in 1917, its enemies were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. These three all belonged to the Triple Alliance in the beginning of 1914, but Italy declared neutrality when war first broke out and ultimately changed sides in 1915, joining the Allies: France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. The text will be updated online with the correct identification.

November/December 2016Herod the Great: The article mistakenly identified the Pharisees, rather than the Sadducees, as the leading Jewish sect who “represented the establishment, holding high religious office in the Temple…” The text has been updated online with the correct identification and can be found here.

National Geographic Kids Magazine

November 2018Weird But True: Crazy Laws About Food, page 16: The article mistakenly states that it's against the law to eat an orange in the bathtub in California.

March 2017Weird But True, page 4: The Fact about Mercury incorrectly featured an illustration of Mars.

Nat Geo Wild

December 2016 / January 2017Wild Things, page 10: The caption misidentifies the location in the picture. The correct location is Canada’s Hudson Bay.

Wild Shots, page 44: The caption incorrectly states that in 2015 the Palauan government created the largest marine sanctuary in the world. It is one of the largest marine sanctuaries in the world.

Special Issues

2014Jesus and the Apostles: Christianity's Early Rise, page 54: The caption identifies the shekels at right as Tyrian shekels. The coins shown are actually the type that would have been issued in Judea during the revolt against Rome.

Atlas of the Ancient WorldPersian Dynasties, page 27: In the map, Gaugamela is incorrectly labeled as a battle between Parthians and Romans. The battle at Gaugamela in 331 B.C. was between Alexander the Great (Greek/Macedonian) and Darius III (Persian/Achaemenid).

Kingdoms of the Nile, page 43: The caption for the photograph identified as Cleopatra is incorrect. It is an image of Nefertiti.

Books

Pandora’s LabOn page 17: The name of the Roman god of sleep is spelled incorrectly. It should be Somnus.

National Geographic Answer Book, Updated Edition (2015)On page 235: The name of the Hindu goddess who is the consort of Vishnu is spelled incorrectly. It should be Lakshmi.

@NatGeoIn the captions on pages 93 and 240: “Svaneti” is used incorrectly; it should be “Svan.”